SwiftUI Coding Guideline

Overview

Apply these guidelines when working on SwiftUI code. Prefer minimal, readable, and maintainable changes with explicit, testable state transitions.

Use swift-coding-guideline as the baseline for cross-cutting Swift language/tooling rules (import hygiene, mutation semantics, enum/file rules, naming, and general formatting). This skill defines SwiftUI- and UI-architecture-specific rules on top of that baseline.

Priorities (In Order)

1) Minimal changes that solve the problem directly. 2) Readability over cleverness. 3) Maintainability over short-term shortcuts. 4) Clear architecture: each layer owns one responsibility. 5) Pure, explicit logic with minimal side effects. 6) Testability via small, injectable dependencies.

Project Structure

• Prefer feature folders when they improve clarity.
• Example: ReadMarkdown/Markdown/View, ReadMarkdown/Directory/Controller
• Keep shared primitives in ReadMarkdown/Shared/Model and ReadMarkdown/Shared/Service.
• Use a dedicated Enum folder for enums.
• Avoid new folders or layers unless they remove real complexity.
• Define each SwiftUI view in its own file; avoid local or nested view types in the same file unless explicitly requested.

Example Folder Architecture

ReadMarkdown
├─ Directory
│  ├─ Controller
│  │  └─ DirectoryController.swift
│  ├─ Dispatcher
│  │  └─ DirectoryDispatcher.swift
│  ├─ Model
│  │  └─ DirectoryItemModel.swift
│  ├─ View
│  │  └─ DirectoryListView.swift
│  ├─ Store
│  │  └─ DirectoryStore.swift
│  └─ ViewModel
│     └─ DirectoryViewModel.swift
├─ Markdown
│  ├─ Controller
│  ├─ Dispatcher
│  ├─ Model
│  ├─ View
│  ├─ Store
│  └─ ViewModel
├─ Utility
│  ├─ View
│  │  └─ SidebarWidthReaderView.swift
│  └─ File
│     ├─ FileWatcherService.swift
│     └─ FileScannerService.swift
└─ Shared
   ├─ Enum
   │  └─ ScanMode.swift
   └─ Service
      └─ DirectoryPickerService.swift

Layering Rules

View (SwiftUI)

• Declarative, minimal, UI-only logic.
• Bind to view model state; avoid side effects.
• Any SwiftUI view extracted outside body (e.g., private var foo: some View) must live in its own file as a standalone View type instead of a computed property.
• Use computed properties for derived values and small logic helpers, not for view subtrees.

ViewModel

• Own state and orchestration.
• Side effects must be explicit methods.
• Use final class by default; only use class when subclassing is required.
• Follow swift-coding-guideline for mutation semantics (private(set), no-op mutator wrappers, and accessor/observer constraints).

Controller / Dispatcher

• Pure transformations only.
• No IO or persistence.
• No UI state.

Service

• Wrap IO (filesystem, watchers, network).
• Keep them small and single-purpose.
• All service types must use the Service suffix for consistency (e.g., FileScannerService, DirectoryPickerService).

Store

• Thin persistence adapters (e.g., UserDefaults).
• No business logic beyond serialization.

Layer Definitions (Explicit Responsibilities)

Controller

• Orchestrates domain-specific flows using dispatchers and services.
• Owns no UI state.
• Should be thin and testable.

Dispatcher

• Pure data transformation (input → output).
• No side effects or IO.

Model

• Simple data structures only.
• No business logic beyond computed convenience values.

View

• UI only; no orchestration.
• Binds to view model state.

ViewModel

• UI-facing state and coordination.
• Explicit methods for side effects.

Store

• Persistence only (e.g., UserDefaults).
• No orchestration or UI state.

Service

• IO boundary (filesystem, watchers, dialogs).
• Single-purpose; easy to stub in tests.

Pure Transformations

• Keep transform logic isolated in controllers/dispatchers.
• Pass data in, return data out. No side effects.

Example

struct DirectoryController {

    func makeDirectoryItems(files: [MarkdownFileModel], rootURL: URL?) -> [DirectoryItemModel] {
        // Pure transformation of inputs to outputs.
    }
}

ViewModel Orchestration

• ObservableObject and @Published require Combine. Import Combine directly in non-view files (view models, stores, services) instead of SwiftUI.

final class AppViewModel: ObservableObject {

    @Published
    private(set) var files: [MarkdownFileModel] = []

    private let scanner: FileScannerService

    init(scanner: FileScannerService = FileScannerService()) {
        self.scanner = scanner
    }

    func scan(folderURL: URL) {
        files = scanner.scan(folderURL: folderURL)
    }
}

Bindings Should Be Explicit When Needed

• Pass-through Binding(get:set:) is always a violation.
• If get reads x and set only writes x = newValue, do not use Binding(get:set:).
• Use direct bindings for plain state.
• Use Binding(get:set:) only when set performs intentional behavior (mapping, validation, or calling explicit mutation methods).

Example

Toggle("Enabled", isOn: $viewModel.isEnabled)

Example (avoid pass-through Binding(get:set:))

Toggle(
    "Enabled",
    isOn: Binding(
        get: { viewModel.isEnabled },
        set: { viewModel.isEnabled = $0 }
    )
)

Example

Toggle("Full scan") {
    Binding(
        get: { viewModel.scanMode == .full },
        set: { viewModel.setScanMode($0 ? .full : .topLevel) }
    )
}

Testing Guidelines

• Test logic in view models and services.
• Use stubs for IO dependencies.
• Keep tests behavior-focused, not implementation-focused.

Example stub

final class StubFileScannerService {

    var files: [MarkdownFileModel] = []

    func scan(folderURL: URL) -> [MarkdownFileModel] {
        files
    }
}

Naming & Code Style

• Prefer explicit names over abbreviations.
• Keep functions small and single-purpose.
• Use comments only to clarify intent, not to restate code.
• Prefer computed properties over local let declarations inside SwiftUI view-building closures for derived values that are reused or improve readability.
• For view subtrees, prefer dedicated View types in their own files over computed properties.
• Formatting preference: place attributes and modifiers on their own lines for clarity.
• Property wrappers should be on their own line, not inline with the property declaration (e.g., @EnvironmentObject on a separate line).
• Add a blank line between consecutive stored properties when either property uses a property wrapper or attribute (e.g., @Published, @State, @EnvironmentObject). Treat this as a strict formatting rule.
• Formatting preference: add a blank line after type declarations before the first member.

Example

@Published
private(set) var scanMode: ScanMode = .full

private let defaults: UserDefaults

Example (blank line between consecutive property wrappers) Bad

@Published
private(set) var fileAvailability: FileAvailability = .available
@Published
private(set) var missingSelectedFile: MarkdownFile?

Good

@Published
private(set) var fileAvailability: FileAvailability = .available

@Published
private(set) var missingSelectedFile: MarkdownFile?

Example

final class AppViewModel: ObservableObject {

    @Published
    private(set) var files: [MarkdownFileModel] = []
}

Example

@EnvironmentObject
private var settings: SettingsViewModel

Example (prefer computed properties to inline let declarations) Bad

private var contentView: some View {
    let bottomInset = showsTerminal ? terminalHeight + terminalPadding * 2 : 0

    return MarkdownViewerView(bottomInset: bottomInset)
}

Good

private var contentView: some View {
    MarkdownViewerView(bottomInset: terminalBottomInset)
}

private var terminalBottomInset: CGFloat {
    showsTerminal ? terminalHeight + terminalPadding * 2 : 0
}

What to Avoid

• Over-engineering (extra layers without value).
• Implicit side effects (didSet, global state).
• Generic “manager” classes.
• UI logic in services/dispatchers.
• Cross-layer responsibilities (e.g., store running business logic).